Council supports Lake Okaro transfer to iwi
28 October 2012
At a Rotorua District Council meeting this week (24 October) the council agreed to support the transfer of Lake Okaro's lake bed to Te Arawa Lakes Trust ownership.
Lake Okaro, 25 kilometres south of Rotorua, was not part of the Crown's original Treaty Settlement with Te Arawa in 2004 but instead was excluded, along with Lake Rotomaha, when ownership of other Rotorua lake beds reverted to the iwi.
Councillors expressed the view that the lake bed ownership issue should have been resolved by the Crown at the previous Treaty settlement stage.
One related issue to be dealt with remained the question of who would manage the lake's surrounding reserve, and whether it would be managed by one of the parties, or through a co-management process.
Councillors voted unanimously to support the transfer of Lake Okaro's lake bed to Te Arawa Lakes Trust with a guarantee of continued public access. They also resolved to ask the Crown for financial assistance and for recommendations on a process to expedite the lake bed transfer.